Review of Michael Palin Sahara (2 Discs)

Introduction

Wow, that summary above just about covers what I was going to say!

Michael Palin, well travelled BBC presenter, takes us along his most recent quest. Travelling the Sahara to reach the fabled 11th century city of Timbuktu.

Visiting people, seeing how they live and showing us a side that`s seldom seen while crossing crocodile-infested rivers and scaling mountain ranges. One of the reasons he wanted to do the Sahara was because he had heard that is was magical and strange and not just flat sandy plains. And from the looks of things, he`s right. It`s colourful, vibrant and for me it`s totally unexpected.

Filmed over a period of about four months, it`s a fascinating record of life.

Video

Presented with a 1.78:1 anamorphic video transfer, the quality is amazing. Colours, contrast and detail are well balanced. The imagery of the desert, the people and the sights come alive, this is a great way to present and preserve something we hardly get to see, so once you get over the quality, you can enjoy the rest of the programme. At 4 hours long the series is spread over 2 discs with each 1 hour programme sitting on its own layer.

Audio

Just a Dolby Digital 2.0 soundtrack here but this is fine. It`s all dialogue interspersed with music and atmosphere and what`s here works really well. The sound is well recorded and reproduced and without any problems whatsoever.

Features

Simple and easy to navigate menus with no fancy bits getting in the way lead us to the programmes and extras. All extras except for the Video Diary are anamorphically enhanced.

Video Diary (25 minutes) - This is Palin`s more personal video, not the stuff that gets broadcast and is basically a lot of behind the scenes stuff. You can see for yourself where he and the crew stay while filming, and he covers quite a bit to fill in the gaps of the main programme. Very interesting.

Interview (15 minutes) - This is where Michael reflects upon his trip and talks about technical filming difficulties, the bureaucracy in place while trying to get permission to film and about how open, friendly and welcoming he found his experience with strangers. Good stuff.

Deleted Scenes (30 minutes) - There are no less than 16 unused scenes, extended scenes and outtakes available. Each has an introduction from Palin and I found that it extends ones interest in the series and thankfully just adds more of everything. Another good extra.

All four programmes and extras have English subtitles.

Conclusion

Michael Palin. Not the first name you conjur up when you think about documentaries traversing the world, meeting other people, coming across different cultures and just being able to get on well in almost any surrounding with almost anybody. He`s certainly carved out a niche for himself since he first travelled around the world and from pole-to-pole for the BBC and you know what to expect when watching one of his programmes.

I missed seeing this on television at the start so watching it now fascinates me. Palin has a very easy going presenting style that I find highly entertaining. There are plenty of comical moments in here too, though not a bit of Monty Python.

The sheer diversity of people he visits and engages with on this adventure across the Sahara is amazing, and no less the fact that the language barrier isn`t much of a barrier at all. It seems that English and more than a spattering of French comes in very handy. Fascinating people, gorgeous locations, interesting food (lots of camels and meat in general) and a lot of history too.

I think this is a top notch series and the Beeb have done a good job on this 2-disc DVD. The video transfer is excellent and there`s just over an hour`s worth of extras too. It`s sometimes difficult to gauge the replay value of a series like this. There have been documentaries that I wouldn`t bother twice with, but this one`s different. I found it informative, entertaining, and extremely easy to watch and since each programme is just an hour long, it`s easy to dip into now and again. Definitely one for me to keep on the shelf rather than relegate to the DVD box marked `do not disturb` under the stairs. Before I forget, this disc is coded for regions 2 and 4.

This is definitely one of my favourite special interest discs this year and comes highly recommended.